Musharraf Admits Holes in Border Allow Some Fighters Into Afghanistan
EmailPakistani President Pervez Musharraf admitted today that some militant fighters are crossing the border from Pakistan to support the Taliban in Afghanistan. "I know that at some [border] posts a blind eye was being turned," Musharraf told reporters today, "but we are taking all kinds of action to the people implementing our orders on the ground at the checkpoints." Musharraf also insisted he was certain Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar was in Afghanistan, not Pakistan. Last month, a Taliban spokesman who was captured in Afghanistan said Omar is alive and well and living in Pakistan under the protection of the Pakistan intelligence agency. Musharraf today said that any notion Omar is being protected by the Pakistan intelligence agency or military is "preposterous." Misharraf pointed out that Pakistan intelligence provided crucial information that led to the December air strike that killed Mullah Akhtar Mohammed Osmani, the most senior Taliban leader to be eliminated since American troops invaded Afghanistan in 2001.
Pakistani agents also tracked Mullah Dadullah Lang, a ruthless Taliban commander known for beheading his enemies, three times when they discovered he had entered Pakistani territory. Each time, he said, the Taliban commander got away.
Musharraf also tried to defend last year’s peace deal with Taliban and tribal leaders in the frontier provinces of Pakistan. Since the deal was made in September, suicide attacks in Afghanistan have increased 50 to 70 percent.
Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage. "It’s not a total success," he conceded. "It has its failures, but we must not scrap it." Critics of the deal, however, say it has enabled many militant fighters to cross the border into Afghanistan to wage attacks on NATO troops. ABC News reported last year on how the peace deal and other events emboldened the Taliban and al Qaeda in Pakistan to operate and recruit openly. "Basically, it appears that the Taliban have achieved their objective from this agreement, which was always to get a truce with the army of Pakistan, so that they could have a free hand to consolidate their rear in North Waziristan, so that they could escalate their attacks in Afghanistan, and they have succeeded," said Barnett Rubin, Director of Studies at New York University’s Center on International Cooperation, in a recent interview with ABC News. Rubin also predicts the situation will only get worse. "This spring I expect a much bloodier offensive in Afghanistan and several areas simultaneously, including perhaps rocket attacks on cities and real escalation of suicide attacks in those areas," he said.
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Keep going Musharaff, you are inching closer to the truth!! This dictator has repeatedly denied in the past that insurgent groups and Taliban were operating from within their borders, and then admits they are but that he is cracking down on them, and then he signs a peace treaty with the terrorists. Read the following from a CNN interview with this idiot.
BLITZER: Why is it okay, Mr. President, for the U.S. to operate in neighboring Afghanistan and try to hunt for al Qaeda or Taliban leaders, but it wouldn’t be okay to operate in Pakistan?
MUSHARRAF; Please don’t compare Pakistan with Afghanistan. Pakistan is a very, very stable country. We have a strong government. We have a strong military. We have a strong intelligence system. And everything in Afghanistan had broken down. So how can you compare the two?
Posted by: Bobby | February 2, 2007, 12:31 pm 12:31 pm
Mr. Musharraf, you are either with us or against us. Half measures are not enough. Claiming to have “made attempts” at apprehending top level Taliban and Al Queda are not enough. Enough lip service, clean out these sanctuaries, and if you can’t then let NATO do it. Otherwise you are simply an accomplice with excuses.
Posted by: Don L. | February 3, 2007, 12:53 am 12:53 am
Musharraf never said Taliban were not crossing from Pakistan. What he has said is that his government is not supporting/facilitating these crossings!
The outgoing NATO commander in Afghanistan, General David Richards, stated yesterday “The international community is putting a lot of pressure on Pakistan, but let’s just remember that Pakistan has also done a huge amount for the international community on the back of 9/11.” Musharraf has endured numerous assasination attempts, lost hundreds of his soldiers and even more civilians in terrorist attacks, and arrested or killed more Al-Qaeda and Taliban members than anyone else. He has put forth several ideas to end the border crossings, such as sending back to Afghanistan the three million refugees from whom Taleban are drawn, and mining and fencing he border, but there has been no response by us. If we still think that he is not being helpful, then the problem is with us and not with Musharraf.
We invaded Afghanistan, not Pakistan. Why should a sovereign country allow foreign soldiers on its soil? Why should a sovereign country plunge itself into civil war for our sake? Would we do these things for a foreign country?
The question is not whether Pakistan is with us or against us, rather it is whether we are with Pakistan or against them. It is us who have repeatedly imposed sanctions on Pakistan, thereby decimating their military capability, yet we expect them to perform flawlessly. It is us who are busy trying to develop Pakistan’s enemy, India, into a global power, and thereby endangering Pakistan’s very existence. It is irrational and unrealistic to undermine a country’s security, and then expect them to serve our security interests.
So let’s not be hypocrites, and misrepresents facts. Pakistan has done more and sacrificed more for the cause of our security, than many of our NATO allies. We need to appreciate and reciprocate Pakistan’s friendship, rather than bully it.
Posted by: Candid | February 4, 2007, 1:39 am 1:39 am
President Musharaff,
We in the United States have a fear… and that fear is losing you as Pakistan’s leader.
The terrorists have continued to target you. The fear in the United States is that they will unfortunately get lucky in time and succeed in their attempts to murder you.
What will happen then? Who will succeed you and ensure the world that your nuclear arsenal does not reach the insurgents hands?
We implore you to allow US and NATO forces onto your soil to hunt for Bin Ladin and his support network. The facts while perhaps blurred and murky show he is a guest in Pakistan. Such a guest must be expelled. Allowing a murderer regardless of his past glory and accomplishments to remain in your nation is an afront to all sensibilities and logic.
Posted by: TheAmericanVoice | February 4, 2007, 4:32 am 4:32 am
“Gentlemen may cry peace, peace,” said Patrick Henry, “but there is no peace. The war is actually begun!”
Posted by: jim jones | February 4, 2007, 12:41 pm 12:41 pm